I would be careful with a red-coated tungsten bulb; there may be an area near the base that isn't coated and the coating may not block the lower green wavelengths. You can check by using a CD or DVD as a diffraction grating. Reflect the light from the bulb and if you can see any green or blue light in the reflection, your bulb is not safe for normal paper.

Not sure I'll be able to get a bulb for my safelight in town tomorrow... If i can use a normal red bulb i know i can get one tomorrow.

You may have an exotic safelight with an exotic bulb, but most of them take a rather standard, but low wattage bulb. It is the filters that make them "safe". The vast majority of the time, if you can find a suitable red bulb, you can find a useful replacement for the safelight.

Once you find them, if they're hard to find, stock up. I have a pack of four replacements for my Patterson. Anything that normally wears out and you can't live without if it goes out, you should have a spare.

Red LEDS for Darkroom safe-light .

Or get a half a dozen high-brightness red LEDs, solder them in parallel on a piece of Veroboard and connect a 3 volt battery. Stick it on the ceiling with some blu-tack and Bob's your auntie!

Cheers,
kevs

Greetings Kevin ; Will any 'high brightness' red leds do ? How do I find out which prong of the LED to solder to the next one ? Is there a polarity problem ? Can a led be damaged when soldering . ? ...............................................Che ers Barrie B. Melbourne - Australia .

Has anyone tried using the low wattage compact flourescent bulbs? I have a large Kodak safelight, 9 x 12 I think. I don't remember what wattage is recommended for it, probably 25, which happens to be lowest wattage equivalent CF I saw listed. I aim the safelight toward the white ceiling, would this let me use a higher wattage bulb safely? The filters are fairly new.

Has anyone tried using the low wattage compact flourescent bulbs? I have a large Kodak safelight, 9 x 12 I think. I don't remember what wattage is recommended for it, probably 25, which happens to be lowest wattage equivalent CF I saw listed. I aim the safelight toward the white ceiling, would this let me use a higher wattage bulb safely? The filters are fairly new.

For those papers that can take an orange safelight ( for example Ilford MGIV and Adox MCC ) I have used a fluorescent bulb with very low wattage but high light output for several years. It is cased in a closed lamp holder with an orange filter. Absolutely no problem ! Like you , I aim the safelight towards the ceiling.

Has anyone tried using the low wattage compact flourescent bulbs? I have a large Kodak safelight, 9 x 12 I think. I don't remember what wattage is recommended for it, probably 25, which happens to be lowest wattage equivalent CF I saw listed. I aim the safelight toward the white ceiling, would this let me use a higher wattage bulb safely? The filters are fairly new.

That's what an R10 is, an encasement for a low wattage flourescent bulb. It works fine.

Greetings Kevin ; Will any 'high brightness' red leds do ? How do I find out which prong of the LED to solder to the next one ? Is there a polarity problem ? Can a led be damaged when soldering . ? ...............................................Che ers Barrie B. Melbourne - Australia .

JOBO once made a Small Safelight/flashlight with a carefully selected LED, which was designed to work with most B&W and _Colour_ paper that was available at the time. (Don't know if the newer papers are still safe for that unit) I don't know if they published the wavelength of the LED that they used.

A general RED led should work, but you should try to get a datasheet and compare the wavelength with the Wavelengths that the paper you are using is sensitive to.

LEds come with one lead longer than the other, and generally there is also a notch in the case near one lead. The Leds should be wired Anode to cathode. and the current limited - Generally by a series resistor. Again The manufactures data sheet for the LED you use should show which lead is the anode and cathode. It will also show the Maximum current.

The LEDS like most semiconductors do have a limit of the heat that they can be exposed to. Again Read the data-sheet.